Good day, Lactnetters,
     I've just been telling a colleague about the 1977 Papua new Guinea (PNG) legislation which requires a prescription from a health professional for feeding bottles and associated paraphenalia, and what has happened since.  The legislation is: the Baby Feed Supplies (Control) Act of 1977.  It seemed a good idea to share a few of the points with Lactnet so that it is available in the Archives.
    The 1977 law initially had a marked impact this tropical country's infant mortality from diarrhoeal disease.  My information on this is from conversations with paediatricians there in 1984 and later.  (Sorry, I can't find a published reference from that time that I can cite.)  However, when I visited PNG in early-1984, artificial baby milks (ABMs) were displayed in optimal positions on the shelves of the trade stores (supermarkets), creating a consumer awareness of the products.  I understand from colleagues that this was equally true in the late-1980s.
    A 1984 amendment to the legislation added cups with perforated feeding spouts to the other feeding devices requiring prescription.
    A 1999 report in the literature describes efforts to protect breastfeeding in PNG from the 1970s to the late-1990s, including the passage of the above law and its amendment.  The paper also gives up-to-date information about the erosion of the effects of this law, with a rising incidence of bottle-feeding, many of the bottles having been bought *without* prescription or obtained from family or friends.  There appears to be poor implementation of what initially seemed a world-leading piece of legislation.  The remedy?  The authors recommend education and implementation.   The reference, which is worth checking out, is:

Friesen H, Vince J, Boas P, et al. Protection of breastfeeding in Papua New Guinea. Bulletin of the World Health Organization 1999; 77(3): 271-273.

    Cheers,
          Virginia
          in sunny, dry Brisbane

( o )( o ) This is not a substitute.
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